Isaac Haggins Sr., pioneering real estate broker, dead at 87

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Isaac Haggins Sr. became a real estate broker in the 1960s with a dream of selling homes to anyone, regardless of race, at a time when that was a controversial notion. When his real estate office in Cleveland Heights was bombed in an act of racially motivated violence, he didn't let it deter him, and the office reopened.

Haggins died Sunday, May 20 at age 87. He lived in Cleveland.

"He was a salesman from his heart. He could sell an Eskimo a popsicle," said his brother Edward Haggins, 88, of Columbus. "He broke a lot of ground in real estate in getting black people homes."

Isaac Haggins Sr. was born in New Bern, North Carolina, on Aug. 18, 1930, the second of four boys. According to his family, Isaac Haggins was named for his
grandfather Isaac Smith,
who had real estate and banking ventures in North Carolina in the late 1800s, and served in the state legislature.

The family later moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey, where he attended high school.

Isaac and Edward Haggins both majored in business administration at West Virginia State College in Charleston, West Virginia. "He followed me everywhere," Edward Haggins said. "I was his big brother and he wanted to be like me."

The brothers moved to Cleveland after college graduation in the 1950s. Isaac Haggins began his sales career working for the Charles Chester Shoe Co., a mail order shoe company, and worked his way up to regional sales manager.

"Selling was his forte. He's probably up in heaven selling houses St. Peter has prepared for us," Edward Haggins said.

Isaac Haggins met his future wife, Kathleen, when she was hired as his secretary at the shoe company. They married in 1955 and had four children.

He opened his real estate business in 1961, and expanded to two offices, on St. Clair and Union avenues. By 1964, his company had 25 employees and $6 million in annual sales, according to press reports.

Cleveland's neighborhoods were changing as whites, eager to move to the suburbs, sold their homes to African-Americans who wanted a chance at home ownership. Isaac Haggins took advantage of the busy real estate market, but he was accused of blockbusting, or fanning racial fears to encourage whites to flee integrating neighborhoods. He always denied the charge, his family said.

"There is no question but that the housing market should be open to all based on the qualifications of the individual," Isaac Haggins told a Plain Dealer reporter in 1964. "No one should be held back from a decent area where he can afford to purchase simply because of color."

Isaac Haggins' third office, located in Cleveland Heights, was damaged by a homemade bomb just a few months after it opened in late 1968. An FBI investigation never found those responsible. It was the fifth racially motivated bombing in Cleveland Heights up to that time, according to press reports.

He also enjoyed running. He finished 13 marathons, including the Revco and New York marathons. He ran several marathons with his brother Edward. "I love to run. It keeps me mentally free and with a positive high," Isaac Haggins said before his first New York marathon in 1983.

He is survived by his wife Kathleen Haggins, 81, and children Isaac Jr., Ivan, Ilene and Kathleen, all of Cleveland. He is also survived by two brothers, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.